Chart-drawing instrument.



No; 650,856. Patented lune 5, 1900.

E. N. MOYER.

CHART DRAWING INSTRUMENT.

(Application filed. Mar. 26, 1899.)

(No Model.)

g y y y LEE ::E: m A :7 I] J Z K DI A H ISTURY 0F Witmeooao STATES PAT N i a ELI NASH MOYER, OF TORONTO, cAivAnA,

CHART-DRAWING INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.650,856, dated June 5, 1900. Application filed March 25, 1899. Serial No. 710,483. (NomodeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELI NASH MOYER, of the city of Toronto, in the county of York and Provinceof Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new 7 and useful Improvements in Chart-Drawin g Instruments and I do hereby declare'that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an instrument by the use of which historical charts can be produced by any student or teacher of history whether endowed with the talents for or knowledge of drawing or not.

The invention is particularly adapted to the drawing of chronological charts and may be said briefly to consist of a chronological beam-compass comprising an arm fulcrumed at one end to a base-board to be swung over the face of such board. The length of this arm is divided and subdivided, the main divisional parts to represent periods of time of comparatively=great length and the subdivisional parts to represent equal intervals of the greater periods of time, and upon this arm is carried a sliding block, which in turn carries a marker. A blank chart of greater area than that traversed by the arm, which constitutes a beam, is

' slipped between such beam and-its base-board and is held against displacement, while the side edges of this blank chart are furnished with time-scales corresponding to that upon the beam." For full comprehension, however, of my invention reference must be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which like symbols indicate the same parts, and wherein Figure l is a plan View of my improved drawing instrument with a blank chart, partially executed,in place; Fig. 2, a detail perspective view of the beam removed; Fig. 3, a detail perspective view of the sliding block; and Fig, 4, a detail view of the blank chart, illustrating a portion of one of the time-scales.

One end of the beam 6, which is preferably of wood, has a metallic plate 0 secured thereto and is provided with a perforation d, through which it is pivotally connected by a fastener e to one corner of the base-board f, which preferably consists of a rectangular piece of straw board. The length of the beam is divided at one side, edge into four parts 9 of two and one-half inches measurement and offset from one another, as at h, to emphasize the divisional parts, and each of said parts is subdivided, as at i, into twenty parts of oneeighth-inch measurement, while the other side edge is provided with a scale divided into 1 ten parts j of one-inch measurement, (also olfset from one another, as at k, to emphasize the division,) and each part is subdivided into eight equal parts Z. I The lines that determine these divided and subdivided parts are a series of arcs concentric of the point at which the beam is pivoted. I

' The sliding block m is made, preferably, of india-rubber and has a transverse dovetailed recess n in its under side to receive the beam, the dovetail form enabling it to grip the side edges of the beam, the block being ofsufficient length to allow of its carrying a pencil 0 in a perforation 19, extending in a diagon' l line from the top side thereof to a point outsi e of the beam, but in close proximity thereto.

The blank chart 8 is made of paper and pref; erably of rectangular form, having an eyei' located at one corner thereof, and an are u, divided into a number of equal parts, is marked thereon and extends concentrically of the eye i from one to the other of the sides that abut at said corner. The radius of this arc is equal to the length of the scale marked upon the beam, while each of said side edges has printed thereon a time-scale to, similar to that (g) upon the beam, excepting that the subdivisions 00, corresponding to 'i, are again subdivided into fifths.

It will be observed by referring to Fig. 1 that by the subdivisions of the time-scales printed on the chart-blank each oifset main divisional part comprises one hundred'subdivisions. r h

In using my instrument I find the best results are attained byconstituting each oifset divisional part of the chart a century. The student then being furnished with the historical events is enabled to describe anarc on the chart, marking off the period of each event from, say, for. example, the beginning of the fifteenth to the completon of the nineteenth century. Radial lines can be drawn to present the delimitation of the extent of proportional area covered by the event, and

the chart can then be colored and written up, or it can be written up by the student as he proceeds.

To exemplify the use of my invention in instructing a student in history, I will describe the method of setting forth a portion of the history of Canada in outline.

The blank chart sis first set in place by unfastening the fastener and passing it through the perforation in the corner of the chart. The student is first informed as to the extent of time to be covered in the lesson. The teacher then tells what events happened at different times or during different intervals. Let the era to be studied extend from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the present day. As the portions of the time-scales (at the edges of the blank chart) from the inner ends or beginning of each to the first offset is subdivided into one hundred parts,it will serve well to represent a century, and as the portions between the offsets are correspondingly subdivided each offset can represent the completion of a century, and consequently the student will place the numbers 1500 (which represents the epochs from which commences the era to be studied) at the inner ends of either or both time-scales and the numbers 1600 1700 1800 at each offset. Upon the student being then told that Jacques Cartiers voyages of discovery took place in the years 1534 and 1535 he will swing the beam 1) over to one of the time-scales and move the block on along the scale until the pencil is upon the thirty-fourth line from 1500. He then swings the beam and draws an are, upon which he writes 153+l-5. Voyages of Jacques Cartier. The student is then told that from 153a until the commencement of the French Colonial \Var in 17 54 the French sphere extended over only a portion of the territory that now constitutes the Dominion of Canada and that the remaining portions were either governed by the British or unexplored. He is then informed as to the extent of these different portions of territory, and using the subdivisions of the are u to guide him he divides by radial lines the area of the chart into portions corresponding proportionately to that administered by the two powers and unexplored, and the various epochs of historical importance are located by the student on the time-scale and marked off in arcssuch, for instance, as Kirk held possession of colonies for England from 1629 to 1032. This affected only the areas representing what is at the present day the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Consequently the student upon being soinformed willex tend the arcs across these portions only. To indicate the B. N. A. Act of 1867, which confederated all the provinces except Prince Edward Island, an arc is drawn completely across the chart, excepting the portion indicating Prince Edward Island, and an arc is drawn across the portion of the chart representing Prince Edward Island to indicate the epoch 187 3,at which the island province joined the Dominion. The student then being informed as to the dates of the wars that affect in any way the history of Canada will draw arcs to indicate the beginning and the end of each war and extending over the portion of the chart representing the territory affected. Of course as the arcs are drawn the student will note thereon or in the space between them the event or era indicated. It is obvious that in this way a student can easily depict and in depicting acquire the knowledge of the history of any period or era.

My object in dividing the scales upon the beam into parts of known length, such as inches or fractions of inches, is to insure that it be impressed upon the student that time is measured by space, divided, and subdivided.

Although I have illustrated my invention as applied to the study of the history of a country, it is evident that the life of an individual can be set forth as clearly and with equal ease.

The block m being made of india-rubber, while affording an exceedingly simple and effective means. for adjustably connecting the marker to the beam, serves also as an eraser which obviously is necessary where a leadpencil is used.

I am aware that an application has been filed by one \Villiam Henry Goodwin for a patent on the chart illustrated herein, and I do not make any claim specifically thereto; but

What I do claim is as follows:

1. An arm for chronological-chart-drawing instruments having a pivot-point at one end, a series of equal divisions g radiating from said pivot-point and extending one beyond the other and offset from one another, and a series of equal divisions concentric of said pivot-point and subdividing said radial division, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

2. An arm for chronological-chart-drawing instruments having a pivot-point at one end in line with one side edge thereof, a series of divisions g radiating from said pivot-point; and extending one beyond the otheralong both side edges of said arm and offset from one another, the radial divisions at one side edge being of greater length than the division at the other side edge and a series of equal divisions concentric of said pivot-point and subdividing correspondingly said radial divisions, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

An arm for chronological-charhdrawing instruments having a pivot-point at one end and a scale at each edge of one side thereof, each of said scales comprising large divisions subdivided by smaller divisions the smaller divisions of said scales being equal and the larger divisions of one scale differing from the larger divisions of the other scale substangiallly as described and for the purpose set ort 4. A chronological-chart-drawing instrument comprising a base, a detachable rigid arm pivotally connected to said base so as to allow of the introduction of a chart-blank between the arm and base and suitably divided and subdivided, a flexible india-rubber block gripping and movable longitudinally of said arm, and a marker carried by said block substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A chronological-chart-drawing instrument comprisingabase, an arm pivotally connected to said base and suitably divided and subdivided by radial and concentric lines, a flexible india-rubber block gripping and movable longitudinally of said arm and a marker carried by said block, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

6. A chronological -chart-drawing instru- ELI NASH MOYER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM P. MOFEAT, ALFRED J. SEARS. 

